International Space Station Status Report #25 - 2005

Report #25
3 p.m. CDT, Friday, May 13, 2005
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev and Flight Engineer John Phillips
continued routine maintenance and science experiments aboard the
International Space Station this week as they wrapped up their first month
in space.

The crew began the week observing Victory Day - the Russian holiday that
this year marked the 60th anniversary of the end of fighting in the Soviet
Union during World War II. The rest of the week kept Krikalev and Phillips
busy with maintenance and research activities.

The crew continued using the treadmill for exercise this week as engineers
closely monitored data from the exercise sessions. However, after a broken
restraint cable was found during a routine inspection today, the crew was
asked to use other exercise equipment for the time being.

The treadmill stopped working for a time last Friday when a circuit breaker
tripped inside the device. During a routine monthly inspection today,
Phillips reported a broken restraint cable on the treadmill's gyroscope. The
treadmill, which is specially outfitted to isolate the vibrations caused by
exercise from the rest of the Station, is equipped with a gyroscope to
maintain the system's stability.

Engineers will analyze photos of the restraint cable to determine if it can
cause problems with the treadmill's operation. Other exercise equipment
aboard that is available to the crew includes two stationary bicycles.

The Station's atmosphere was pressurized with oxygen from the ISS Progress
17 vehicle's reserve tanks once again this week. The Station's Elektron
oxygen generation system, which can convert water into oxygen for the air
onboard, is not operating. Russian engineers plan to send a new electronics
box for the system on a Progress supply ship that will arrive in June.

Plentiful supplies of oxygen remain available aboard the Station from
multiple sources. In total, oxygen supplies already aboard the Station
coupled with those that are planned to be delivered by upcoming cargo craft
could sustain the crew for at least the rest of this year, without use of
the Elektron.

Through next week, the remaining oxygen supplies aboard the currently docked
Progress will be used. Once those are depleted, Solid Fuel Oxygen Generation
canisters may be used. 84 such canisters are aboard. Those canisters alone
could supply the crew for at least 42 days if necessary. A large quantity of
oxygen, enough to supply the crew for nearly 100 days, also is stored in
tanks on the Quest airlock aboard the Station.

The Progress spacecraft now docked to the Station, Progress 17, will undock
at about 3:10 p.m. CDT June 15. ISS Progress 18 is scheduled to launch from
the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, at 6:09 p.m. CDT June 16 and dock to
Station on at 7:10 p.m. CDT June 18. The Station's altitude was boosted on
Wednesday to line up its orbit for the arrival of the new cargo craft. The
Station's orbit was raised by 1.5 miles at the perigee, or portion closest
to Earth, to 226.1 by 214.2 statute miles. The new Progress also is planned
to deliver even more oxygen supplies. Another Progress craft is planned to
arrive at the Station in late August.

This week, both crewmembers worked on preparing excess equipment for return
on the Space Shuttle Discovery in July on the STS-114 Return to Flight
mission. They also performed routine maintenance on ventilation and life
support systems in the Russian segment and verified a VHF radio
communications link used during Shuttle rendezvous operations. Krikalev
continued work throughout the Russian modules with audits of various
supplies and equipment.

Phillips' work focused on some of the laptop computers aboard. He refreshed
a Portable Computer System (PCS) laptop by deleting and then reloading
information on the hard drive, which recovered its corrupted hard drive to
serve as a backup. The PCS laptops are used by the crew to monitor the
Caution and Warning system and manage the Station operating modes and the
Command and Control System. Two required PCS computers are functional
onboard with three additional hard drives now available as spares.

Phillips also worked with three Station Support Computers (SSCs) that were
experiencing problems booting up. After the troubleshooting, two of the
computers turned on, but the screens remained blank. They can be used for
routing data in applications where a computer monitor is not necessary. The
third laptop did not boot up and engineers are working on further
troubleshooting procedures. There are enough operating computers available
onboard for the crew to access e-mail, perform word processing and view the
daily schedule of activities. Phillips also replaced an old battery in the
laptop computer used at the Robotics Work Station that controls the Station
robotic arm, Canadarm2.

Serving as the NASA Station Science Officer, Phillips began participating in
the "Journals" experiment after completing his orientation to Station life.
The investigation records crew members' perceptions though the mission to
obtain information to assist in the design of future spacecraft. Phillips
also prepared for his first session next week with the Foot/Ground Reaction
Forces During Spaceflight (FOOT) experiment. For the experiment, he will
wear an instrumented garment called the Lower Extremity Monitoring Suit
(LEMS) and shoes with force sensor attached. The experiment records 12 hours
of data to help researchers better understand forces imposed on the lower
body and muscle activity in weightlessness.

Information on the crew's activities aboard the Space Station, future launch
dates, as well as Station sighting opportunities from anywhere on the Earth,
is available on the Internet at:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

The next ISS status report will be issued on Friday, May 20, or earlier if
events warrant.



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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info